The Chicago Blackhawks found themselves down a pair of goals in Vancouver Wednesday night minutes into the second period. Chicago responded with five unanswered goals to snap a four-game skid, rallying to defeat the Canucks 5-2.

First Period-The Canucks got on the board 16 seconds into the game. Ryan Kesler put a backhand attempt on the Hawks net. Chris Higgins gathered in the puck and beat Corey Crawford via the five-hole to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead on the game’s first shift.

A minute later, Niklas Hjalmarsson threw a shot toward the net that floated past Roberto Luongo. The puck struck the crossbar and glanced off of Luongo’s leg. However, Luongo was able to keep the puck from sliding into his net.Continue reading »

The Chicago Blackhawks let a two-goal lead evaporate in the final minutes, but got a surprising shootout goal from Andrew Shaw to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in a shootout Tuesday night. Marian Hossa scored a pair of goals but missed most of the third period and may have suffered a dreaded upper body injury when he was hit in the back of the head by Jannick Hansen.

In the first period, the teams traded scoring chances in the first few minutes. The ‘Hawks top line held the puck in the Vancouver zone long enough for a couple of opportunities, the best coming when a Johnny Oduya slapper got redirected by Brandon Saad. The puck came out in front of the net but Jonathan Toews couldn’t get it by Cory Schneider.Continue reading »

Certainly, you’d be hard pressed to recall a more dismal game than the one that took place before a blood thirsty United Center crowd last Sunday. Against the hated Canucks no less; do the Hawks realize the shame we fans feel when Vancouver beats us? Do they realize that some of us who blog on the Nucksmisconduct website are treated like boy toys until the next time we play, Nov. 16th. At one point in the third period I said to my son, “You can actually hear a pin drop in here.” That without the help of my hearing aids, whose batteries went dead shortly after the Canucks third power play goal. (It’s more than apparent that the Hawks power play needs a little Energizer Bunny help at the moment-although I haven’t reached the desperation of one blogger who actually thinks we’d be better off declining the opposition’s time in box.)Continue reading »

The Chicago Blackhawks returned home on Sunday night to face their Western Conference rivals, the Vancouver Canucks.

Duncan Keith missed his third straight game with a left hand injury. This game was one circled on the calendar after the Hawks almost eliminated the Canucks from the playoffs last spring coming from behind in a 3-0 series deficit to force Game 7. This was also the first meeting between these two teams since last year’s playoff opening round.

The Canucks were a dominate force against the Keith-less Hawks. Their power play went 5 for 6 tying the Hawks 5 power play goals, total, over the month-old season. On the flip side, the Hawks were a dismal 0 for 5 on the power play. Vancouver won the game 6-2 with the Sedin’s combining for 7 points.

Vancouver drew first blood with newest Canuck David Booth scoring his goal of the year, at 6:00 of the period, on the first power play of the game.

Michael Frolik tied the score at 12:57 of the first with a simple wrist shot to the net, which fooled Roberto Luongo and sent both teams to the locker room tied at 1-1.

Vancouver outshot the Hawks 17-9 In the opening frame. The Sedin’s were up to their old tricks as they made a few attempts to give Corey Crawford snow showers. Patrick Kane was the only one who took exception to this and took Henrik Sedin down. He was called for the rough with 18 seconds remaining in the period.

Canucks opened the second period on the power play and Aaron Rome, playing his first game of the year, blasted a shot from the point over Crawford putting the Canucks up 2-1 just 1:16 into the middle frame.

The Hawks surrendered another power play a few minutes later when Bryan Bickell, trying to get physical, was called for boarding Daniel Sedin. Seizing another opportunity with the man advantage, Daniel Sedin found a nearly wide open net, with Crawford having no chance to get over for the save and the Canucks had 3 power play goals and a 3-1 lead with less than five minutes played in the second period.

Dan Carcillo tried to get the United Center crowd back into the game by dropping the gloves against Aaron Volpatti. Carcillo won the fight and took Volpatti down. This seemed to wake the Hawks up as Marcus Kruger scored his second goal of the year going hard to the net two minutes later as Jamal Mayers let a shot go from the top of the circle and Kruger put home the rebound cutting the Canucks lead to one.

Just 43 seconds after the Kruger tally, Jannik Hansen silenced the crowd with an easy tap-in from the side of the net, putting the Canucks up by a pair with 4:10 remaining in the period.

Viktor Stalberg was then called for a high stick on Dan Hamhuis, putting out the Canucks hot power play once again.

Hamhuis made the Hawks pay, sending a point shot past Crawford making it 5-2. As the period came to an end Jamal Mayers dropped the gloves with Kevin Bieksa. Mayers did get a few shots in, but in the end Bieksa took him down.

The third period began with Kane drawing a holding penalty and sending the Hawks on their 5th power play of the game. Showing no urgency during the man advantage, they were unable to beat Luongo. Carcillo took a puck hard to the net trying to complete a wrap around. He wound up being tackled by Rome and received two minutes for a rough, two minutes for unsportsmanlike and a ten minute misconduct. Then again, the Canucks made the Hawks penalty kill look invisible as Henrik Sedin tucked one past Crawford making the final score 6-2 and helping the Canucks go 5 for 6 for the night on the power play.

Quick Hits:

-Hawks out shot Vancouver 40-38

-The Hawks again were unable to score on the power play going 0 for 5. Only one team in the NHL has scored fewer power play goals – St. Louis, who have scored 3 times on 40 chances (7.5%). Blackhawks are 5 for 53 (9.4%). Percentage wise, Chicago has the third-worst power play in the league, with Columbus slotted between the Hawks and Blues.

-Surrendering the five power play tallies, the Blackhawks penalty kill took a beating in this one. Chicago PK units had given up just four, total, over the first 13 games of the season. Their PK unit now ranks 22nd in the league (79.6%), on slot behind the Detroit Red Wings (80.0%)

-Vancouver needed just less than seven and a half minutes (7:25) to post their 5 power play goals on Sunday

-Blackhawks were unable to record a point at home for the first time this season. They are now 5-1-2 at United Center.

–Niklas Hjalmarsson picked up his first point of the year with an assist on Frolik’s goal.

-The Hawks are back on the road Tuesday in St. Louis when they face the Blues for the first time this season. It’s another important divisional battle, and will be the Blues first in front of new head coach Ken Hitchcock. Hawks will then travel to Columbus for a battle Thursday night before returning home to face Calgary on Friday. Busy week ahead.

Incredible hockey game. A punch, counter-punch type affair but in the end the Blackhawks had a horseshoe in their back pocket.

Corey Schneider was a late surprise starter for Alain Vigneault. Schneider did pretty well until two and a half minutes into the third period when he pulled a muscle while attempting to stop Michael Frolik’s penalty shot score. That tied the game 3-3 after Kevin Bieksa put the Canucks up 3-2 a minute into the third frame. Roberto Luongo was sharp in relief, stopping 12 Hawks shots, 10 in overtime, until the Niklas Hjalmarsson shot Luongo seemed surprised by rebounded to overtime hero Ben Smith. Marian Hossa made the game-winner happen but it was the line of Bolland-Bickell and Frolik that carried Chicago as they did in Game 4.

In a scene straight out of the parallel universe, a huge Dave Bolland check behind the Vancouver net led to Bryan Bickell’s goal, tying the game 1-1 late in the first. Bolland struck a lucky puck twenty minutes later to answer Alex Burrows’ lead-taking tally after Corey Schneider coughed the puck up to Patrick Kane behind his goal.

Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows (first goal and second point of the series for him) were the other Vancouver scorers. Sedin was first to the scoresheet, putting the Nucks up 1-0 early in the game after a horrible defensive play by Niklas Hjalmarsson. A nice 25-foot wrister by Burrows beat Corey Crawford’s right pad from the slot.

In this game, the Blackhawks blew a minute and forty-three second 5 on 3 man advantage and went scoreless in 6:17 of power play time overall; Patrick Kane blundered a clear breakaway straight out of the penalty box and the ‘Hawks played the 75-minute game a man-short (John Scott dressed and skated less than a minute; coach’s decision).

Go figure. Vancouver played a great road game and still lost. Luck probably runs out for the Hawks in Vancouver. Or, maybe not. Doesn’t matter. The hockey was great. Vancouver’s still the better team and capable of raising their game a notch. But the Hawks have better big-game performers. Chicago can’t play the no-pressure card anymore. They’ve won 3 in a row, have the Canucks on the ropes, play very well in Vancouver and have the Canucks’ number historically. Everyone is anticipating Vancouver to choke and they’ll need a Vezina-like performance from a supposedly ailing Roberto Luongo to win Game 7. Should be fun.

Game 7 Tuesday night in Vancouver. Game time is now listed as 9pm central/7 pacific. Versus broadcast nationally, ComcastSportsNet in Chicago. Since the Chicago Bulls game Tuesday night starts at 7pm and is likely to run until around 9:30, the beginning of the Hawks-Canucks game will be shown on CSN-Plus.

Much has been made of the physicality in this year’s Blackhawks-Canucks series. While the Canucks hold a substantial (+46) advantage in the overall credited hits column, they also (according to official scorers in Vancouver) collected a hefty 40 to 14 margin over Chicago in Game 5. This on a night the Canucks were shutout in their home rink and have worked themselves into a situation where they could see their season slipping away if they don’t get their act together fast.

Now one aspect sometimes overlooked when analyzing hit counts is that if one team has the puck, they’re not looking for hits or finishing checks. So if one team owns the puck for a great majority of the game, or is sitting back protecting a hefty lead (which the Hawks were in Game 5 as well) they’re not forechecking as hard and thus not finishing as many checks. Thus why hit counts can oftentimes be misleading.

By periods in Game 5, Vancouver out-hit Chicago 12-4. 17-5 and 11-5.

From a Blackhawks’ perspective you can see how certain players such as Bryan Bickell and Viktor Stalberg have dug into their roles and pressured the Canucks when they’ve been on the ice. They along with Troy Brouwer (the Hawks regular season hits leader) and Chris Campoli on the blue line have been the most physical Hawks.Continue reading »